Fiona Ayerst's garden route blog

'Catching White Sharks Equal to Poaching Rhinos'

12/02/2013

Mr Bekker's plea of guilty to three sections of the Marine Living Resources Act , act 18 of 1998 ( the act ) was welcomed by the shark conservation community due to it's future potential for helping to conserve great white sharks in South Africa.

Unfortunately the plea and it's consequences have not been correctly and fully spread by the media frenzy that followed the sentencing of Mr Bekker.

What has been left out of all media reports is the following: From now on, if an angler is casting with a certain type of tackle (such that could catch a large shark) and is fishing in an area where white sharks are known to habituate and exist then whether he catches one or not; he is already guilty of contravening the act and could be charged and fined up to R 2 000 000 ( two million rand ) or to imprisonment for a period of up to 5 years.

Until this case, DAFF and the state were loathe to prosecute anglers taking white sharks out of the water due to a high onus of proof on the state to prove the crime . Since Mr Bekker pleaded guilty , statements such as- " I did not know I had a white shark on the line" or " I was not targeting white sharks I caught it by mistake" are no longer excuses that make up a defence to a charge under the act.

As a result the "doors have been opened" and a crime that has never before been prosecuted is now one that can easily be prosecuted and convictions relatively "pain free" for the state. In essence this is now a crime in which the state does not need to prove intention or negligence on the part of the angler. It it has become a fault free crime; the simplest type to prosecute.

This is great news for great white sharks and will hopefully stop anglers from pulling them out onto rocks and beaches and may even cause anglers to think twice about targeting them.

It is vital that people understand there are believed to be only around 3000 white sharks left in the wild. In my opinion one of the most important parts of Magistrate van Wyngaardt's sentence explanation has been left out of the media reports.

The learned Magistrate equated catching white sharks to poaching rhinos in todays terms and said that the two are just as serious as each other.

I hope anglers who like to catch white sharks appreciate the weight of this statement, as it is perfectly true.

The sentence imposed on Mr Bekker is less important to the sharks than the impact this case will have if correctly reported upon by the media. On paper, it was a hefty sentence, if one looks back at fines handed down for crimes against animals ( especially fish! ). However, in my respectful opinion, it fell somewhat short of the intended effect of sentencing - due to its suspended status. I would have preferred to see Mr Bekker sentenced to contributing time, effort and money into shark conservation.

Fiona Ayerst
Oceans Society
Mossel Bay

Playful cape fur seals

01/07/2011

Fiona Ayerst, one of SA's best known underwater photographers, has been published in many SA and international magazines and books (including DiveSite magazine of course!). Fiona lives with her family on the garden route, and dives the area as often as she can.

Steve Benjamin from Animal Ocean took us across to play with the cape fur seals at Partridge point after we had finished a very cold dive with Sevengill Cow Sharks at Millers point. Although my body felt like a block of ice from the previous dive I was so glad that I got into the water again. The seals were frolicking playfully around us and the water was pretty clean. The seals love to approach divers with a wistful yet inquisitvie expression and then veer off suddenly at the last moment – fangs bared.

One or two of them decided a really fun game was to nibble Ryan on the top of his head and then dart quickly away before he could react. I was so relieved to have a big bubble of air inside my hoodie so that when they did this to me I couldn’t feel anything.

I really enjoyed my short time with the seals and wish that the water had been just that little bit warmer so that I could have stayed longer. I will go back- soon I hope !

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A day at sea off PE

18/06/2011

Fiona Ayerst, one of SA's best known underwater photographers, has been published in many SA and international magazines and books (including DiveSite magazine of course!). Fiona lives with her family on the garden route, and dives the area as often as she can.

On 4 June 2011 Ryan and I spent the day out on the big blue ocean with Louis van Aardt of Pro-dive (Walmer ,PE ,South Africa (041) 5811144). It’s our fave place on earth to be (on the ocean that is) and what a peaceful, sunny and perfect day it was. We got some great action out int he big blue being visited by two interested Mako sharks looking for a little snack. Unfortunately they didn’t hang around for too long but I did manage to get enough time to snap off a couple of shots. They also whetted our appetites for more and I am hoping that Ryan will want to try and find them off the Mossel Bay coastline where we live – as I would love to visit them often. What incredible looking sharks- my new favourite! Move over Bull sharks.

Mako magic

After a lovely peaceful day on the ocean we headed back to shore and on the way in were treated to an incredible spectacle- a melange of 10000s of animals feeding on a ball or two of sardines. Yes, it’s the beginning of the annual Sardine Run that travels up our coastline. It looks like this year ( 2011 ) may be a good one- if this action is anything to go by. We had 1000′s of common dolphins;9 brydes whales, 100′s of gannets, seals, penguins and copper sharks deeper down.

Sardine run at sunset

Unfortunately the sunset had begun and so we only had about 15 minutes to enjoy the spectacle. It was one of those 15 minute time-spans that you want to remember forever. Unfortunately it was too dark and brief for me to get any photos but we did manage to capture some of it on video and I will post a couple of images from the video to show just how close Ryan got to a Brydes whale, that almost swallowed him as it chased sardines…

Peeking Brydes

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